The Battle of the Great Hill

The battle of the Great Hill took place the last of the Arabs ’confrontations with the British in the Great Hill region in Ismailia Governorate, in which the Egyptian army was defeated, and the British then entered and received them by the Khedive.

Preface

The British were waiting for the opportunity to occupy Egypt after the failure of the Crusades against Egypt and the Levant and the diversion of the trade route to the Cape of Good Hope and the coming and failure of the French campaign against Egypt and the Levant (1798-1801 AD) and after the failure of the Fraser campaign in 1807 AD and after the destruction of the Muhammad Ali Empire with the London Treaty of 1840 AD and Britain is waiting for the opportunity to invade  Egypt.

The opportunity came in the era of Khedive Tawfiq, against whom a popular revolution in the country led by Emirati Ahmed Orabi came to be known as the Arab Revolution due to the poor economic conditions, foreign interference in the affairs of Egypt, the treatment of the then Prime Minister Riad Pasha to the Egyptians, and the persecution of Egyptian officers in the army at the expense of the Turks.  The Circassians, and Khedive Tawfiq took exaggeration in portraying the situation to the Europeans as being extremely dangerous to their interests as Orabi, according to his description, was an extremist patriot who hates everything that is foreign and aims to expel all foreigners from Egypt.

Britain claimed the pretext of its intervention in order to protect foreigners and their interests in Egypt, and England and France sent the first and second joint memorandum. After the incidents of the Alexandria massacre, the English fleet entered and stormed Alexandria, and the fortifications of the Arabs failed to prevent the British takeover of it.  From the country to fail to enter it from the north and turn to the east, supported by international blessing.

The Battle of the Great Hill

The Battle of the Great Hill was between the Egyptian army led by Urabi, the leader of the peasants, the son of Harya Razan Village in Sharkia Governorate, and the English army, which failed to occupy the country from the Alexandria side, so he came from the canal.  Orabi had considered destroying the canal so that the British would not enter the country through it, and the French head of the Suez Canal company Dulespes at that time replied to him that the canal was neutral and did not allow warships to enter through it, but it allowed the British to pass.

On September 13, 1882AD (corresponding to Shawwal 29 Shawwal 1299 AH) at 1:30 AM, the Egyptian forces stationed at their sites in the Great Hill in Ismailia Governorate, who were asleep at the time of the attack, were surprised by the arrival of the British with some desert Bedouins who briefed the British on the sites of the Egyptian army.  The officers who helped the British know the loopholes in the Egyptian army, coincided with the declaration of the Ottoman Sultan Farman of Arab godfather at the instigation of England;  He made many people turn against him.

The battle lasted less than 30 minutes and Ahmed Orabi was arrested before he continued wearing his military shoes (according to his confession during his exile trip to Ceylon).

Sources